West Bengal government announced the Retired Journalists Pension and Health Cover scheme. This was announced on 1st of September, in which they doubled the amount of pension to Rs 5000 per month. It will be effective from 1st September 2026. With this, the government also started the distribution of Health cards to Retired Journalists under Mukhyamantri Sawasthya Bima Yojana. CM made this announcement when they attended a representative of the press club and a senior journalist.
West Bengal Retired Journalists Pension Scheme
This is a very impressive step taken by the West Bengal government, in which they gove Social sucrituiy to Retired Journalists. This will help them live their life smoothly and make it easy to cover their daily expenses. If any retired journalist faces any type of Health issue, then they can do cashless treatment upto Rs 5 Lakh under MMSBY.
The medical facility provided under this scheme will cover 30,000 Government and private hospitals. In this list, AIIMS, CMC Vellore, TATA Cancer Hospital Mumbai, PGIMER Chandigarh and Dr Reddy Hospital Hyderabad are also included. The medical faculty is also provided in the West Bengal in 1900 government and private hospitals. If any person is already covered under the Ayushman Bharat scheme, then they are not covered in this scheme.
WB Retired Journalists Pension Scheme
| Scheme Name | Retired Journalists Pension Scheme |
| Benefit For | Retired Journalists |
| State | West Bengal |
| Pension amount | Rs 5,000 |
| Other benefit | Free Medical Treatment Up to Rs 5 Lakh |
This process will be overseen by Information and Cultural Secretary Dr Soumitra Mohan and Health Secretary Narayan Swaroop Nigam. There is no need for political or ministerial recommendation to avail the benefit of this scheme. The Pension Scheme alos cover awide range of journalists. It alos incluse the journalish who work in news desks and do not have a press card. Currently, 150 Retired Journalists alrwady taken the benefit of this scheme that’s is Rs 2500 monthly. Now this amount is doubled to Rs 5000, and new Retired Journalists will be added to this scheme.
According to Finance Minister Swapan Das Gupta, the government try to cover most of the journalists under this scheme. He also announced that the government will eliminate the disparity in the financial allowance provided to journalists in Kolkata at the time of Durga Pooja. Earlier, the journalists from Kolkata got Rs 2000, and Jouranalis form Other Districts Get Rs 1000. Now this will be removed, and all the Journalists will get Rs 3000. According to offcials The selection of the Journalists will be based on the eligibility criteria set by the government.
The Selection process will be transparent, and eligible journalists will get the benefit of this scheme. They also said that the WB Retired Journalists Pension scheme is not only up to 150 Journalists, but it will reach a large number of media personnel. CM announced that journalists are the 4th pillar of democracy. They have to take the side of truth, and they have the right to to constratove critism of the government. He also added that freedom of speech is a constitutional right for every Indian, but we have to maintain the principle of Nation First.
Benefit Of Scheme
- Under the Retired Journalists Pension, the government doubled the pension amount from Rs 2500 to Rs 5000.
- With this, the government alos provide Heath cover to Retired Journalists and provides them free treatment of Rs 5 Lakh under Mukhyamantri Swasthya Bima Yojana. They can do their cashless treatment upto Rs 5 Lakh free of cost in the hospitals empanelled with the Government.
- Pension scheme helps journalists to live their life with dignity and without facing any financial crises.
- Currentely Only 159 journalists are getting the benefit of this scheme. Now the government is bringing a Huge number of journalists and media personnel under this pension scheme.
- Allowance provided to journalists at the time of Durga Pooja is also not increased. Initalay journalish form Kolkata get Rs 2000, and other districts get Rs 1000. Now all the journalists get Rs 3000 at the time of Durga Pooja.
Eligibility Criteria
- Journalists who are from West Bengal are eligible for this scheme.
- Only retired journalists get the benefit of this scheme.
- Journalists with a Press Card can apply for this scheme.
Documents List
| Aadhaar Card of Retired Journalists |
| Press Card |
| Passporta Size Potograph |
| Bank account |
Objective of Retired Journalists Pension Scheme
The primary objective of this scheme is to empower the journalist community economically and financially. Â When any journalist gets pension after their retirement, they they donot have to depend on anyone. This will make this career more prominent, and youth will actively choose this as a career. The other benefit is the Mecial Facuility to to Rs 5 Lakh. Eligible journalists will be covered under the Mukhyamantri Swasthya Bima yojana nd they can easily do their health treatment up to Rs 5 Lakh in a government-empanelled hospital inside the state or outside the state.
FAQ
This is a pension scheme for West Bengal journalists who retired from their job.
Earlier, the pension amount of Rs 2500 witch is now doubled to Rs 5000, is provided to eligible journalists.
With Pension, journalists also get free Health treatment upto Rs 5 lakh in government and private hospital witch are empanelled with the government.
Currently, only 150 journalists are taking benefits, but now the government has announced that they will add more number of Journalsist in this scheme.
This scheme’s benefits will start from 1st September 2026.
Satyajit Basu is a Professional Content Writer having experince in this field for the last 6 years. He started his career as a content writer, and now he is working with many big news publications. His expertise is in West Bengal news, and interest in West Bengal Politics and Trending News.